Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff have a 'big, beautiful blended family.' Therapists say it's 'inspiring.'

If she is elected, Kamala Harris wouldn’t be the first president to also be a stepparent — that distinction falls to POTUS No. 1, George Washington, who was stepfather to his wife Martha’s two surviving children from her first marriage. And the White House certainly isn’t a stranger to blended families in their many forms, from the Reagans to the Trumps to the Bidens.

But night two at the Democratic National Convention put Harris and her modern family front and center. On Tuesday night, the vice president’s husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was introduced with a video produced by his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, and narrated by their 29-year-old son, Cole Emhoff.

In the video, Cole gives a rundown of his “goofy” dad’s New Jersey upbringing, legal career and reputation as a “crisis guy.” He then addresses his parents’ divorce and seeing his dad get a second shot at love with Harris years later.

“My parents split when I was in middle school, and that wasn’t easy,” Cole says. “That’s not easy for any kid. But it helped that my parents stayed friends and we all kept hanging together. We grew closer than ever. And then he met Kamala — a blind date that would dramatically change all of our lives forever.” Harris and Doug Emhoff married in 2014, and “Kamala became Mamala” to Cole and his sister, Ella Emhoff.

“We might not look like other families in the White House,” Cole says as a photo of his “blended family” flashed on screen, “but we are ready to represent all families in America.”

Doug himself echoed that as he took the DNC stage shortly after. “Hello to my big, beautiful, blended family up there,” Emhoff said as he greeted his loved ones in the crowd. “I love you so much!”

The emphasis on this blended family — and the presence of his ex-wife, Kerstin, seen at the DNC cheering on her former spouse and his current partner — got a big show of support on social media. “The co-parenting … The goals … The healthiness in this blended family. Man. What could and should have been for so many kids,” read one comment. Wrote another X user, “I grew up with an incredible blended family where my dad, mom and stepmother have always worked together. The Harris-Emhoffs look like my family.”

Watching the DNC on Tuesday, Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist who works with families, tells Yahoo Life that she too was struck by the seemingly tight bond between Harris, Doug Emhoff, his ex-wife and their kids.

“I thought, what a way to honor the whole idea of a blended family that has worked hard to make it work,” she says. “That's something that hasn't been presented to this country so publicly, ever. I cannot remember an example like that.”

But Greenberg points out that seeing divorced spouses and their new partners pull together for the sake of their kids — as the Harris-Emhoff crew did, or famous former couples such as Ben Affleck and Jennfier Garner or Bruce Willis and Demi Moore — is not something she comes across a lot in her practice.

“I really hate to say this, but it's more of an anomaly,” Greenberg says. “People struggle to make it work … and I really honor them. But there's usually so much animosity left over that it's not common [to work together].”

That makes the blended family messaging all the more powerful, she adds. “Emhoff and his ex-wife and Kamala have got something good going,” Greenberg notes. “That should be inspiring because that's not typical.”

Erin Pash, CEO and founder of Ellie Mental Health and a licensed marriage and family therapist working with blended and high-conflict families, has a different perspective. “Healthy blended families can look different depending on the family,” Pash tells Yahoo Life. “Some families fully integrate and co-parent with all parents, and that is healthy for those families. Other families keep things separate and are more businesslike, and that works for those families.” What matters most, she adds, is that any kids caught in the middle are not exposed to “toxic stress and nonstop conflict.”

The vice president’s family is somewhat unique, Pash adds, in one respect. “The biggest thing that stands out about the Emhoff-Harris family is that Kamala doesn’t have any children she brought to the blended family,” she notes.

“Typically, blended families have better success when both sides of the couple bring children to the relationship due to common shared experience and understanding of the hardships that come with being a parent,” Pash explains. “There are more families these days with this dynamic, however.” It’s not uncommon these days, she says, for single people who don’t have kids of their own to enter a marriage and “adapt well to being a stepparent as a happy medium.”

Both Greenberg and Pash have advice for anyone wanting to strive for the sort of “we’re all in this together” relationship represented by the Democratic candidate.

“I give this advice to families all the time,” Greenberg says. “Go slowly. Don't force the relationships; let them evolve. And to the new stepparents stepping in, don't immediately try to become the father or become the mother and start setting rules. … Let the relationship build organically and pace yourself. Have patience.”

Pash, meanwhile, recommends family therapy that includes stepparents. “Parents who are remarried make decisions about their life with their new partner,” she says. “When family therapy doesn’t include the new decision makers, nothing gets done, often leading to even more conflict and frustration in the co-parenting relationship. Families will disagree and need a safe place to talk about the issues that come up. When people are no longer married or only know each other due to their spouse’s past, all ‘control’ that used to exist goes away. That can cause a lot of stress, and people need to find a way to amicably talk things out, and often.”

Another tip: Make time for the kids. “I tell parents and stepparents that for every kid they share they should expect to connect the equivalent of 10 minutes per day per child,” Pash says. She also urges all parents involved to have regular “state of the union” meetups in a neutral space to discuss, and resolve, any issues with the children.

“You must overcommunicate and not make assumptions, ever,” Pash adds. “This foundation of communication and problem solving often creates the connection that builds friendship. Over time blended families can become close if they choose to.”

Whether you support them politically or not, the Harris-Emhoff family, she says, are a “shining example of how it can be done if people focus on their future and doing what is best for all involved, versus being stuck in the past and on vengeance.”